Finding Fred and George
by lightblue-Nymphadora
Summary: Fred and George decide to test how well the family knows them. It's going to be an interesting birthday party...Mentions of Ginny/Tonks, Ron/Hermione
1. The Hunt Begins

**Finding Fred and George**

Fred gave the toy he was developing another prod with his wand. Fuming, he tossed both objects on the table and stretched. Who was he kidding? He couldn't work like this, and neither could George. He walked through the lab, looking for his twin.

In the years after the War, life had gotten back to normal for the most part. Unfortunately for the twins, this meant the return of their mother's affection for the Ministry—especially with the way it was changing under Kingsley. They both knew that their parents were proud of how well they were doing. However, one breakfast with them was quite enough to see that they thought that while their other children (Harry included) were changing the face of the Wizarding world, Fred and George were playing with toys. This was precisely why they normally opted out of family breakfasts on "developing days."

"George!" Fred called. He turned as he heard swearing.

His twin wheeled himself out from under a large orange thing. Fred still wasn't sure what it was… "You rang?" George muttered, wiping soot off of his forehead.

"How's your day going after that wonderful, uplifting breakfast?"

"Brilliantly."

"Thought so," Fred said, smiling. "Care for a walk?"

"Sure."

They descended the steps to their store and stepped into the crisp morning air. Walking through Diagon Alley, Fred brought the frustrating topic up without preamble. "It shouldn't bother us," he said, kicking a stick.

"I know," George said, nodding. "But really, we're not…It'd be different if they paid attention."

"What?" Fred asked, not completely following the internal paragraph in his twin's mind.

"It's not just Mum. We've spent so long being the twins that no one really notices our distinguishing characteristics," he explained, striking a pose. "And I'm not even talking about 'What's Fred's favorite color' or 'Which of the Holyhead Harpies did George have a crush on when he was 9'—"

"Christianna Cooper," Fred said, grinning.

"Shut up. I'm saying they don't know basic stuff that defines us as an entity, if you will. Or how to tell us apart, without glancing at my lack of ear."

"To be fair, we are identical." Fred shrugged.

"As a top-notch joke product inventor and distributor, I expect better from you," George joked. "Come on, we both know better. The eyes can fool the fool, right? The Creator gave us five senses for a reason. For example, if I close my eyes and pull my hair," he did so. "And then pull yours," he gave Fred's hair a tug. "I can tell you that your hair is, as it's always been, coarser than mine. More like Ron's and Charlie's, while mine is like Bill and Percy's. If I close my eyes and you say something…."

"I'm the cuter twin," Fred said, taking the prompt.

"And I say the same thing. I'm the cuter twin," he demonstrated. "The careful listener will observe that your voice is slightly deeper."

"Well, you're my twin. You're supposed to notice this stuff. If you don't know it, no one will."

"No one else does."

"Fair point."

They continued walking down the cobbled street. George, stopping again, turned to Fred and asked, "What do you think? I mean, I feel scummy complaining about this in the privacy of my own head and with you. It's not like we can just sit them down and…and…." He stopped upon seeing The Look on Fred's face. It was a wide grin that made the corners of his eyes crinkle. It was a grin that told George there was something slightly devious going on in Fred's mind. "Fred?"

"Let's get back to the shop," his twin said, taking his arm. "I'm suddenly in a much better mood."

* * *

_**April 1**__**st**_

"Hi Mrs. Weasley!" Harry said, walking toward the 3Ws. "You know why their birthday party's taking up the whole day?"

"No idea, dear," Molly said.

"It looks like Ginny and Tonks are here already," Arthur told them. As they approached the couple, two more people Apparated next to them.

"Morning you lot," Ron said when they reached them.

"Are the twins meeting us here, then?" Hermione asked, glancing at the shop's "Closed" sign.

"I guess," Tonks said.

"Wonder where Angelina and Katie are," Harry said. "You'd think they'd be here."

"They're probably on their way with the twins," Arthur said. He checked his watch. "We're a bit early."

They waited outside of the shop for another few minutes. Then, at ten o'clock, the door opened with a small _click!_.

"What gives?" Ron asked, following Harry in.

"No idea," Harry said. He led the way to the center of the room where a sheet of poster paper lay. "Who is this?" he read when everyone had crowded around. The words were in classic "ransom note" cut-out letters above a picture of a small Weasley child.

"That's Fred," Molly said. "I think."

Ginny tilted her head to the side. "No," she said. "That's George."

"Very good!" came George's voice from nowhere.

The rest of them jumped. They looked around for the source of the sound, but neither George nor Fred was anywhere to be seen.

"We're glad you all decided to join us today," the voice continued. "You see, Fred and I thought we'd put you all to a fun little test today. Care to explain, Freddie?"

"Right you are, George," Fred's voice came. "We're sending you lot on a little adventure. Think of it as a getting-to-know-you survey. All the clues will have something to do with us. If you're successful, the prize will be wonderful and delicious. Right Geor—George, stop eating the prize!"

"Sorry," George's voice said through a mouthful of something.

The family laughed at the twin's disembodied argument.

"Anyway," the Fred voice continued. "We'll start off with an easy one. Go to the place where we were born and listen to some music. Have fun!"

"What the bloody hell?" Ron murmured to Hermione.

"They want us to go to St. Mungo's and listen to music?" Tonks asked.

"No," Arthur said, shaking his head. "They want us to go home. They were a surprise, and we couldn't get to the hospital in time. The twins were our only home delivery."

"Well, let's go see what they've got planned for us, shall we?" Molly said.


	2. The Next 2 Clues

**Finding Fred and George**

Once everyone had Apparated at the Burrow, they congregated in the family room. Attached to the record player was another of Fred and George's ransom notes. Ginny grabbed it and read, "Well done, you lot. To get your next clue, you need to find the first song Angelina and I danced to and play it. This message will self destruct." Ginny dropped the note and ran to the other side of the room with the rest of the group. All it did was dissolve, but with the twins you could never be too careful.

"The first song they danced to?" Harry asked. "How are we supposed to know that?"

"What was the first song the Wyrd Sisters played at the Yule Ball?" Hermione asked.

"No idea," Ron and Harry said.

"I try to block that year out of my mind as much as possible," Harry said, chuckling.

"It's not going to be a slow song," Ginny said. "Because that was the one the champions danced to. Fred and Angelina's song would've been a fast one." She and Hermione had begun to pick all the Wyrd Sisters' albums out of the box.

"It couldn't have been either of these," Hermione said, setting two of the records aside. "Both of them were released after that year."

"They probably wouldn't have played any of these," Tonks added. "Their first album wasn't that popular."

"That narrows it down to these two albums. That's still eight songs we have to choose from."

"Hand me the one you think is right," Molly said.

Six songs later, Ginny yelped, "That's it! I remember, because Neville stamped on my foot during this part." A card appeared out of thin air and fluttered to the ground.

"You went to the dance with Longbottom?" Tonks asked, as Arthur picked it up. "You never told me that."

Ginny shrugged. "What's it say?" she asked.

"Hope you enjoyed the music," Arthur read. "Remember who we mentioned in the last note? You'll need to go see her. She's expecting you"

Ron had barely raised his hand to knock when Angelina flung the door open.

* * *

"Hi there!" she said, smiling at them. "So you all agreed to their game then? Come on it."

They crowded into her living room and took seats. Harry was the first to raise the subject of the clue. "So…we're supposed to ask you about you and Fred's first date?"

"Yep. Normally, I'd totally let you guys cheat and give you the clue, since this isn't the most interesting of stories. However, Fred wants you all to know how incurably romantic he is—his words, not mine—so he jinxed the note to only appear after I've told you. And, fun fact, this is the only time I've ever seen him in a tie. Anyway, we went on a picnic by the lake. Fred bugged Katie and Alicia to find out my favorite food and had the house elves deliver it. Sorry Hermione," she added with a grin.

"No worries," Hermione said, laughing.

"Anyway, it was getting dark so I thought we'd have to move inside, or at least closer to the castle. Fred just said, 'Ah, don't worry about it,' and waves his wand at the basket he brought out. I'd been wondering what was in it, since the elves brought our food to us. A bunch of little paper Quaffles came zooming out a lit up!"

All of the other ladies in the room "Awwwed" at this. The men just smiled and waited for Angelina to continue.

"Yeah, I thought it was cute as well. So we had dinner and he formally asked me to be his girlfriend," she finished with a bright smile. An envelope appeared next to her right ear and she grabbed it and handed it to Molly. "Your son's a real charmer."

Molly laughed and opened the next clue. "Now that you know what a dashing lad I am, ask Angelina where our frequent double date spot was. Don't worry, no story accompanies this one. Just go to the place she tells you, and we've bought you all lunch! Oh, and Tonks needs to morph her hair George's favorite color."

Tonks glanced at Ginny with a raised eyebrow. Ginny shrugged.

"Green," Arthur said. "I know that for sure."

"He wanted all of his stuffed animals to be green when he was little," Molly added.

Tonks morphed her hair, checking it in the mirror. "Off we go then?"

"Sure," Harry said. "Thanks Angelina."

"No problem," she chuckled. "Have fun on the rest of your hunt."


	3. Time for Lunch

**Finding Fred and George**

Tonks ran a hand through her lime green hair as she led the way into the Three Broomsticks. It wasn't crowded inside, and she knew the twins had been here. The glowing, revolving, sparkling sign reading "Weasley" was a dead give-away.

They walked over to the table the sign indicated and took a seat.

Hannah Abbott came over with a tray full of chips and sandwiches. "They told me you were on your way," she said with a grin. "How's the hunt going?"

"Going great so far," Arthur said. "The twins were here then?"

"In a matter of speaking," Hannah said cryptically. "Anyone want drinks? Butterbeer? Gillywater?" She took their drink orders and walked back to the bar. After she'd delivered each of their drinks, she pulled a green envelope out of her apron. "I'm supposed to give this to the 'cool chick with the hair to match it.' Here you go, Tonks."

"Cheers, Hannah!" Tonks said. The family leaned in closer as she read the latest clue. "Well done, you lot. This next clue is for Harry and it's a riddle. Ready? Here goes: Even when we're breaking the rules, we're still rather sweet. Enjoy your lunch!"

Everyone turned to Harry, who blushed a little. "I think they want us to go to Honeydukes next…."

* * *

Around 45 minutes later, the group was walking along the main road to the candy shop. Harry was trying to explain his and the twins' rule breaking without making Molly too upset. When he was finished explaining, she simply shook her head.

"That explains so much," Arthur said, chuckling. He pushed open the door to Honeydukes and led the way inside. This time, there was no glowing sign telling them what to do, and judging by the way the shopkeeper smiled at them and kept dusting, he had no idea what was going on.

"What now?" Hermione asked.

"You're sure about this?" Molly asked Harry.

"Yep," Harry said, nodding. "Let's look around, shall we?"

They wandered around the candy shop, inspecting the different tubs of sweets. They looked under the tub of cherry jelly babies and lemon drops (Fred and George's favorite candies), but didn't find anything. After about fifteen minutes of aimless searching, the shopkeeper came over to them.

"Anything I can help you with?" he asked.

"Er…" Tonks said. "This is going to sound quite strange, but did two redhead blokes come in here earlier and leave anything."

"No." The man shook his head. "You lot are the first gingers in here today. That I've seen at least."

Harry's head snapped up at that. "Do you mind if I have a look around the store room?"

* * *

"What's taking them so long?" Fred asked, peeking out of the trap door.

"Dunno," George whispered. "I thought it'd be kind of obvious for Harry. Oh, here they come!" He pulled the door closed and sat next to Fred. They heard footsteps on the floor above them.

"Ha!" they heard Harry yell.

Once they were sure he'd gone back up the stairs, they climbed out of the passageway and Disapparated.

* * *

"Got it!" Harry said as he came back into the store. "Good job, Harry," he read. "This next clue is for all of you, but Ron will probably find it the easiest. Where did we get the weapons to wage war on our greatest enemy?"

"What?" the rest said, turning to Ron.

"We've got to go to Zonko's," Ron said, laughing. "I'll tell you on the way."


	4. To Zonko's We Go

**Finding Fred and George**

"It was Christmas holiday of their second year," Ron explained as they walked along the high street. "I was bugging them about Hogwarts and they finally gave in and started answering my questions. It all sounded too perfect, so I asked if there was anything about the school they didn't like." He paused and chuckled. "They gave each other this dark look and said, 'Filch.' They went on and on about this 'war' they were in with the man. About how he was a threat to everything fun (and by that they meant against the rules) at Hogwarts." He pushed open the door to Zonko's and entered, the group trailing behind him.

The shopkeeper gave them a wave and a smile and said, "The clue's upstairs."

"At least this time we're not just wandering around like creepers," Tonks said, laughing.

They walked upstairs and saw a long table with balloons on it. A card dangled from the end nearest them. Molly opened it and read, "We've got a little game for you now. Pop the balloons and you'll find a picture in each. We need you to tell us if it's a Zonko's or a Wheeze. If you get it right, the picture will change into a word. Get it wrong, and another picture will appear. Once you have them all, put the words in order and that'll be the clue for where you need to go next. Have fun!" Molly placed the clue into her purse (she was collecting all the ones that didn't self destruct for the photo album).

"Shall we get cracking then?" Arthur asked excitedly, holding out pins to all of them. He popped the first balloon. The picture was of a swamp.

"That's their expandable swamp," Harry said, smiling at the memory. He watched as the swamp faded and was replaced with the word "To."

The group continued popping and guessing, not knowing they were being watched from the office above.

* * *

Fred and George laughed as they watched their family from Zonko's office. Fred punched George lightly in the arm and said, "Good idea with the game. They look like they're enjoying it, don't they?" He glanced back down to where Harry and Ginny were animatedly reenacting something to do with one of the products. Tonks and Molly were laughing, Ron was grinning, and Arthur was shaking his head as he popped another balloon.

"I think we should do this every year," George said fondly. "We could give each hunt a different theme, you know? It would be great!"

"We'll see how well they liked it at the end," Fred said, nodding.

* * *

Below, the family had finally gotten all of the words. Tonks read, "Go to Katie's flat and ask why we broke up. Don't worry, we're both quite fond of the story and she's expecting you."

"You know, I always did wonder about that," Ginny said. "It was like one day they were dating and the next they were just friends. But they were always happy, so it couldn't have been that horrible."

"Well, let's go find out," Ron said, taking Hermione's hand. The group walked outside and Disapparated once more.

* * *

Katie's flat was an interior decorator's sexy dream come to life. Even Tonks and Ron, who knew nothing about decorating, were impressed. They sat in the modern Art Deco style living room while she fetched drinks from the kitchen. "So," she said, coming back with waters and lemonades. "You have a question for me?"

"We're supposed to ask why you and George broke up," Arthur said.

Katie laughed. "Right, right. We were arguing one night about…well, I can't even remember now. But he said something stupid and I called him childish. So he says, and I quote, 'I'm childlike, not childish.' I'm pretty sure I made some type of sarcastic comment about it being close enough, and he told me he'd prove that childlike was far better than childish. The next day at breakfast, I got a message that said, "I hope you're not still mad at me. Meet me in the Room of Requirement to talk it over? After dinner?" I told him yes before Potions and, after dinner, went to the Room." She smiled, obviously remembering the next part of the story. "He'd turned the Room into a fairground. Carousel, bouncy castle, tea cup ride, everything. Including an ice cream bar. He didn't bring the fight up at all that night, we just had fun. It's the best date I've ever been on, actually."

"So why'd you break up?" Tonks asked, confused.

"Well, I said he didn't bring up the fight. Unfortunately we did talk a lot. We were just too different to continue dating, and we both knew it. We're still friends, but we're…well, you know Fred and Angie? How they just kind of fit? George and I were the polar opposite of that. I'm pretty sure we only survived as long as we did off of our mutual love of dysfunction."

The family laughed at this and Katie pulled an orange envelope out of the drawer in the table next to her and handed it to Hermione. Hermione took it and read the clue inside, "This one's for Mummy and Daddy. Go to Fortescue's shop and Mum needs to order George's favorite flavor. Dad, you need to order Fred's. Make sure you don't mix us up! When you've done that, Fortescue will give you the last clue. See you in a bit!"

The family stood and, after saying goodbye to Katie, left to go to Diagon Alley.


	5. The Final Clue

**Finding Fred and George**

The family walked through Diagon Alley, reminiscing about different events that had occurred there. When they passed Flourish and Blott's, Harry and Ron began extolling Mr. Weasley's brawl with Lucius Malfoy as one of the best things they'd ever seen. When they entered the ice cream shop, it was populated but not crowded. Molly and Arthur went to the counter where a smiling Fortescue greeted them. "Could I have…er…." Molly started. George's favorite? She knew this; it was something far too normal for his personality, she remembered. "Vanilla-Caramel Chunk in a waffle cone. With sprinkles," she added with a smile.

Fortescue nodded at her and looked at Arthur. "And you, sir?" he prompted.

"Strawberry-Peanut Butter with chocolate sprinkles and marshmallow fluff," Arthur recited.

"Right you are, right you are!" Fortescue said. He slid the purple envelope across the counter to them.

Taking it back to the group, Arthur opened it and read, "The picture on the other side of this clue is a picture of our greatest achievement. Go to it." Arthur flipped it over and the family glanced down at it. It showed a crowd in the Entrance Hall of Hogwarts, with two identical redheads hovering above them on broomsticks. One of the brooms had an iron peg hanging from it. The twins kept zooming out of the picture after saluting to Peeves, who was bobbing in the upper right hand corner.

"They're greatest achievement was leaving school?" Molly asked.

"But we can't go to the Entrance Hall," Hermione said. "Not with school in session."

"Well, they had to fly over the gates, I suppose," Tonks said. "Maybe we just have to get to the gates of the castle."

"Let's go try then," Harry said.

They began to walk back outside when Ron stopped short. "No," he said.

"No, what?" Arthur asked.

"We've got it wrong. Well, partly. It shows them leaving school, yeah, but that was to start up their store for good. Their greatest achievement was Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. We've got to go back to the shop."

From an alleyway nearby, Fred and George grinned brightly and Disapparated.

* * *

Ginny led the way back into the shop. They wandered around for a minute before spotting the storeroom door propped open. They entered and found the two people they'd been searching for all day.

"You've won!" the twins shouted. "Time to party!"

The family noticed the large W-shaped cake on the table. A corner had been cut out of it…

"Sorry," George said, not sounding it at all. "Couldn't help myself."

As they cut the cake and helped themselves to punch, Ginny asked, "So what was this all about? It was a great idea, how'd you think of it?"

The twins blushed, but the happy smiles did not vanish from their faces. "We were sort of…proving a point to ourselves," George said.

"We were feeling a bit neglected, I suppose," Fred continued. "So we wanted to test your twin knowledge, so to speak."

"Did you have fun?" George asked.

"Loads," Ron said through a mouthful of lemon cake.

"It was great," Arthur nodded, smiling.

"Brilliant!" Harry and Tonks said.

"Good, good," Fred nodded. "Mum? Ginny? Enjoy yourselves?"

Molly nodded vigorously, smiling at her sons. Ginny laughed and said, "Course I did. I would've gone home halfway through if I hadn't been having fun."

"Would you do it again next year?" George asked innocently.

"Uh-oh, why do I get the feeling this is about to become a tradition?" Tonks asked with a grin.

"There are worse ways to spend an April Fools' Day than finding Fred and George," Ginny said, and went back to refill her glass.


End file.
